August 2006
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Over 6,000 Madrona Medical Group patients are being warned to watch for identity theft after a former employee was caught accessing and saving patient files into his personal computer. The former employee was arrested and charged with computer trespass.
Madrona officials don’t believe the files were copied or used for identity theft, but they sent letters this week to more than 6,000 patients anyway, asking them to take steps to make sure no one uses the information illegally.
The records include patients’ names, addresses, Social Security numbers and dates of birth.
Source: The Bellingham Herald
Written by MCruz on August 13th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Identity Theft and Patients.
About 133,000 Florida residents are being notified that their sensitive personal information was stored in a stolen laptop. The laptop was stolen last month from Florida’s Department of Transportation inspector general’s office.
The computer contains the names, Social Security numbers, birthdates and addresses of 42,792 Florida residents who hold a pilot’s license; 80,667 people in the Miami-Dade County area who hold commercial driver’s licenses; 9,496 people who took personal driver’s license tests or obtained their license from an examining facility near Tampa, the letter said.
Anyone who has been exposed to this breach can call the department’s toll free number at: 800-424-9071. A website has also been setup for more information. A copy of the notification letters can be found below:
Source: Washington Post
Written by MCruz on August 9th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Government and Identity Theft.
Personal information on 38,000 vets were stored on a computer stolen from a Veterans Affairs Department subcontractor.
Reader, John writes:
Veterans Affairs – Yes, again. A computer containing personal information on thousands of veterans has turned up missing. This time the computer was stolen from a subcontractor, Unisys Corp, who was working with the data to assist the VA with insurance collections. The computer contained names, addresses, Social Security Numbers, dates of birth, insurance carriers, billing information, dates of military service, and claims data that may have included some medical information on at least 5,000 veterans (and possibly up to 25,000). According to the VA the data was password protected but not encrypted. Of course password protected is meaningless, without encryption the data is vulnerable.
Other sources: Mercury News (Thanks John for the news tip!)
Written by MCruz on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Government and Identity Theft and Veterans.
AOL has done the unthinkable. They have released the log of three month’s worth of searches by 650,000 users to the public. Michael Arrington of Techcrunch has the scoop:
The utter stupidity of this is staggering. AOL has released very private data about its users without their permission. While the AOL username has been changed to a random ID number, the ability to analyze all searches by a single user will often lead people to easily determine who the user is, and what they are up to. The data includes personal names, addresses, social security numbers and everything else someone might type into a search box.
The most serious problem is the fact that many people often search on their own name, or those of their friends and family, to see what information is available about them on the net. Combine these ego searches with porn queries and you have a serious embarrassment. Combine them with “buy ecstasy� and you have evidence of a crime. Combine it with an address, social security number, etc., and you have an identity theft waiting to happen. The possibilities are endless.
AOL has taken the download link off their site. This does not mean the file is no longer out on the loose. At this moment, it is being distributed on different websites and file-sharing networks.
Update (08/07/06): AOL admits to their mistake and apologizes.
“Although there was no personally identifiable data linked to these accounts, we’re absolutely not defending this. It was a mistake, and we apologize,” AOL’s Weinstein said. “We’ve launched an internal investigation into what happened, and we are taking steps to ensure that this type of thing never happens again.”
Source: Techcrunch
Written by MCruz on August 7th, 2006 with 5 comments.
Read more articles on Businesses and Customers.
PSA HealthCare patients’ data was lost in a stolen laptop. A press release was issued yesterday by the company with the following information:
PSA HealthCare (Nasdaq: PSAI) today announced that a company-owned laptop computer was stolen from an employee’s vehicle in a public parking lot. The laptop computer contained certain personal information of approximately 51,000 current and former patients, including names and social security numbers and, in a limited number of cases, personal health information. The laptop computer was password protected and PSA has no indication that any of the information has been accessed or misused. However, PSA will begin to contact the affected individuals in order to provide them with steps to take to protect themselves from any possible misuse of their personal information.
Source: BusinessWire
Written by MCruz on August 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Businesses and Identity Theft and Patients.
Patients at Kaiser are being warned to be on the lookout for identity theft.
Kaiser is sending letters to 160,000 patients apologizing and warning that some personal information has been compromised.
The HMO explained that a laptop computer containing a database about hearing aid benefit patients was stolen from Kaiser headquarters in Oakland.
The missing data includes names, addresses, dates of birth, medical record numbers and the locations of clinics where patients receive care.
Source: KRA 3 News
Written by MCruz on August 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Hospitals and Identity Theft and Patients.
